The state of the art comprises many examples of machines which operate according to the principle that an irregular flow of objects, e.g. fishes, are to be synchronised to the pace of a conveyor.
Industrial handling of easily damaged objects may however be difficult to automatize. One example of such an activity is the handling of small types of fish, e.g. herring within the canning factories. Because this type of fish has a very thin and fragile skin, it is not possible to use down-scaled versions of machines for handling larger types of fish.
One reason for this is that these machines use means for synchronization the conveying of the fish to equipment for singular processing of each fish. For example, such a machine may be adapted for loading fish one by one in trays on a conveyor which conveys the fish in the trays along means for decapitating fish heads and for removal of intestines. The means for synchronization the conveying of the fish to said trays may comprise rotating brushes, barbed wheels, or means for driving the fish by pinching it. These means are thus used for retarding and accelerating single fish and if the fish comprises small fish, this handling often lead to quality-reducing damages on the fish. A contributing reason for this, is that is that small fish, e.g. small herring, varies considerably in size and they are therefore difficult to handle mechanically.